Gelatinized cereal product containing oligosaccharide

ABSTRACT

A gelatinized cereal product which contains a plant material which is a source of inulin; for example chicory. Sufficient of the plant material is included to provide at least about 0.25% by weight of inulin on a dry basis. The cereal product may be used as a pet food or breakfast cereal.

This a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/980,714 filedon Dec. 1, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,033.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to gelatinized cereal product which containsoligosaccharide in the form of inulin; especially in the form of naturalsources of inulin such as chicory. In sue, the cereal product has abeneficial effect in the gastro-intestinal tract of the consumer andhence upon the consumer as a whole. The invention also relates to aprocess of producing the cereal product and to methods of promotingbeneficial effects in the gastro-intestinal tracts of humans andanimals. The cereal product is particularly suitable for use as a petfood.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Oligosaccharides such as inulin and various fructo-oligosaccharides arereported to promote the growth of bifido- and lacto-bacteria in thegastro-intestinal tract at the expense of pathogens such as Clostridiumperfringens. For example, see Gibson et al; 1994; Food Microbiology,11(6), 491-498. Although most reported experimentation has been carriedout in vitro, there have been reports that these oligosaccharides have asimilar effect in the gut of rats and humans. Further, promoting thegrowth of bifido- and lacto-bacteria through the use of oligosaccharidesis reported to have various beneficial effects on animals and humans.These beneficial effects include the prevention or treatment ofdiarrhea, and increased growth; improved ability to breed, and enhancedhealth.

These beneficial effects have resulted in use of oligosaccharides,particularly fructo-oligosaccharides, in human foods and feeds for livestock. For example, International patent application WO 94/27617discloses the use of a caramel which contains fructo-oligosaccharides inanimal feed to enhance the health of live stock. However, reports of theuse of inulin also exist. For example Japanese patent application63-309147 discloses the use of a purified inulin in the feed for youngeranimals to prevent diarrhea after weaning and to increase body weight.Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,852 discloses the use of inulin in theform of treated chicory as a feed for live stock.

Although the primary focus for oligosaccharides has been human foods andfeeds for live stock, the use of fructo-oligosaccharides in a veterinarydiet for pets has also been suggested (Willard et al; 1994, Am. J. Vet.Res., 55, 654-659). Further, products containing fructo-oligosaccharideare on the market; for example the Eukanuba product (The IAMS Company).

For the products which contain inulin, the inulin is usually purifiedfrom plants which contain higher concentrations of inulin; such aschicory, Jerusalem artichoke, leek and asparagus. Otherwise, the plantmaterial is treated in some form or another prior to use. A reason forthe purification or treatment is that the plants themselves are reportedto have bitter flavors which result in palatability problems; see forexample U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,852. This is particularly the case withchicory where the bitter flavors are believed to be due to theconcentrations of sesquiterpene lactones such as lactucin andlactucopicrin in chicory. Also, it is generally believed that moreaccurate control of the amounts added may be obtained with purifiedproduct. Various procedures for purifying the inulin or treating theplant material have been reported. Usually however they include thesteps of chopping up the plant, extracting it, and hydrolyzing it withacids or enzymes. The hydrolysate is then collected and condensed toobtain the inulin. For example, Japanese patent application 63-309147disclosed grinding chicory tubers, partially hydrolyzing them withacids, and then drying the hydrolysate with or without neutralization.

Unfortunately, fructo-oligosaccharides and purified inulin greatly addto the cost of the products. Consequently, for pet foods, their use hasbeen confined to specialty veterinary products such as the Eukanubaproduct and to pet treats. Similarly, for human foods, their use hasbeen confined to specialty products.

Therefore there is a need for a cereal product which has the propertiesof food which contain fructo-oligosaccharides and purified inulin, whichis palatable to humans and animals, and which may be inexpensivelyproduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, in one aspect, this invention provides a cereal productwhich comprises a gelatinized starch matrix which contains an amount ofa plant material which is a source of inulin, sufficient to provide atleast about 0.25% by weight inulin, on a dry matter basis.

It has been surprisingly found that adding a natural plant materialwhich is a source of inulin to the usual ingredients of gelatinizedcereal products and then gelatinizing the ingredients does not adverselyaffect the palatability of the food to humans and pets. This is despitethe presence of sesquiterpene lactones such as lactucin andlactucopicrin in the plant materials. The gelatinisation of theingredients of the cereal products surprisingly appears to remove ordestroy these compounds. Also, trials indicate that dogs may find thecooked food even more palatable than commercially available foods. Giventhat these plant materials were thought to be highly unpalatable toanimals, this result is extremely surprising. Cats find the cooked foodat least as palatable as commercially available foods. It is alsosurprisingly found that gelatinizing of the ingredients does not resultin any significant degradation of the shorter chain oligosaccharides ofinulin. Therefore, it is believed that the gelatinized cereal productretains the properties of unprocessed inulin.

The plant material preferably comprises an inulin-rich plant materialsuch as chicory or Jerusalem artichoke, or both; especially chicory. Thegelatinized cereal product preferably contains sufficient of the plantmaterial such that it comprises at least 0.5% by weight of inulin on adry matter basis. The maximum amount is inulin is preferably about 10%by weight on a dry matter basis. The gelatinized cereal productpreferably includes at least about 0.01% by weight of kestose; 0.01% byweight of nystose and 0.01% by weight of fructosyl-nystose. Morepreferably kestose, nystose and fructosyl-nystose make up at least about0.1% by weight of the gelatinized cereal product; for example thegelatinized cereal product may include at least about 0.04% by weight ofkestose; 0.04% by weight of nystose and 0.04% by weight offructosyl-nystose.

Preferably, the gelatinized matrix further includes protein. Thegelatinized cereal product preferably comprises an extrusion cookedproduct. The extrusion cooked product may be in dried pellet form, driedexpanded form, or flaked form.

In a further aspect, this invention provides a process of preparing agelatinized cereal product which contains at least about 0.25% by weightof inulin on a dry matter basis, the process comprising gelatinizing astarch source, a protein source, and a plant material which is a sourceof inulin to form a gelatinized starch and protein matrix which containsthe inulin.

Preferably the starch source, protein source, and plant material areextrusion cooked and then extruded. Further, the extrudate may be dried.

In another aspect, this invention provides a method of increasing thedigestibility of a cereal product comprising incorporating a plantmaterial which is a source of inulin into the cereal product.

In a yet further aspect, this invention provides a method of decreasingfecal volume of a pet, the method comprising feeding the pet agelatinized cereal product which contains an amount of a plant materialwhich is a source of inulin, sufficient to provide at least about 0.25%by weight inulin, on a dry matter basis.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the invention are now described, by way of example only.

The invention provides a gelatinized cereal product which contains anamount of a plant material, which is a source of inulin, sufficient toprovide at least about 0.25% by weight inulin, on a dry matter basis.The plant material used may be any suitable source of inulin; forexample chicory, Jerusalem artichoke, leek, onion, yacon, asparaguswhich contains high levels or inulin, and mixtures of these plants.However inulin rich plant materials such as chicory and Jerusalemartichoke are preferred; especially chicory. These plant materialsusually comprise at least about 50% by weight of inulin. For ease ofhandling, the plant material is preferably in a dried, comminuted form.For simplicity of description, the processes described below aredescribed with reference to the use of dried, comminuted chicory.However it is to be understood that any suitable plant material may beused in any suitable form.

The remaining ingredients included in the gelatinized cereal product maybe any suitable ingredients commonly used in gelatinized cerealproducts. Usually these ingredients include a starch source and aprotein source. Suitable starch sources are, for example, grains such ascorn, rice, wheat, beets, barley, oats, soy, and mixtures of these.Suitable protein sources may be selected from any suitable animal orvegetable protein source; for example meat meal, bone meal, fish meal,soy protein concentrates, milk proteins, gluten, and the like. Thechoice of the starch and protein sources will be largely determined bythe nutritional needs of the animal or human, palatabilityconsiderations, and the type of cereal product produced. Various otheringredients, for example, sugar, salt, spices, seasonings, vitamins,minerals, flavoring agents, fats and the like may also be incorporatedinto the gelatinized cereal product as desired.

The gelatinized cereal product may be produced in many different ways asdesired. However, for a dried cereal product, an especially suitable wayof producing the product is extrusion cooking. This may be done as iswell known in the art. For example, in one suitable process, a feedmixture is fed into a preconditioner. The feed mixture is primarily madeup of a starch source, a protein source, and the chicory. Preferably thechicory comprises at least about 1% by weight of the feed material; morepreferably at least about 2% by weight. The maximum of chicory ispreferably about 20% by weight; especially about 10% by weight.

In the preconditioner, water or steam, or both, is mixed into the feedmixture. Sufficient water or steam is mixed into the feed mixture tomoisten the feed mixture. If desired, the temperature of the feedmixture may be raised in the preconditioner to about 60° C. to about 90°C. by weight. A suitable preconditioner is described in U.S. Pat. No.4,752,139. Plainly, it is not necessary to use a preconditioner.

The moistened feed leaving the preconditioner is then fed into anextruder. The extruder may be any suitable single or twin screw,cooking-extruder. Suitable extruders may be obtained from WengerManufacturing Inc, Clextral SA Bühler AG, and the like. During passagethrough the extruder, the moistened feed passes through a cooking zone,in which it is subjected to mechanical shear and is heated; for exampleup to a maximum temperature of up to about 150° C., and a forming zone.The gauge pressure in the forming zone is about 300 kPa to about 10 MPaas desired. If desired, water or steam, or both, may be introduced intothe cooking zone. During passage through the extruder, the starch sourceof the moistened feed is gelatinized to provide a gelatinized matrixstructure primarily of starch, protein and chicory.

The gelatinized matrix leaving the extruder is forced through a suitabledie; for example a die as described in European patent application0665051; the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. A shapedextrudate, which has a cross-sectional shape corresponding to that ofthe orifice of the die, leaves the die. Depending upon the conditions inthe extruder and the starch source used, the shaped extrudate expands toa greater or lesser extent. The shaped extrudate is then cut into piecesusing blades. The individual pieces are then dried and, if desired,coated with protective or flavoring agents, or both. After cooling, thepieces may be packed into suitable packages. Alternatively, theindividual pieces may be formed into flakes and then dried.

Depending upon the ingredients used, the gelatinized cereal product maybe in the form of dried kibbles suitable for use as pet foods, expandedpieces suitable for use in breakfast cereals, flakes suitable for use inbreakfast cereals, and the like.

It is also possible to produce a dried cereal product by mixing togetherwater and the ingredients of cereal product; for example in apreconditioner. The wet mixture may then be shaped into a desired shape;for example using shaping rollers. The shaped mixture may then be bakedin an oven; for example at about 220° C. to about 280° C. for about 10minutes to about 1 hour. The dried cereal product has the appearance ofa baked biscuit.

If it is desired to produce a simulated meat product which may be usedin canned pet foods, the processes described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,781,939and 5,132,137 may be used. In these processes, a protein source,especially a meat material, is emulsified. The meat material may be anysuitable source of animal protein; for example the muscular or skeletalmeat of mammals, poultry, and fish or meat by-products such as hearts,liver, kidneys, tongue and the like, or meat meals. Vegetable proteinsources may also be included if desired. The exact composition may beselected according to cost and the desired flavor. The emulsificationmay be carried out in any suitable equipment.

The dried chicory is added to the emulsion. Also, if desired or needed,additional protein may be added to the emulsion. The additional proteinmay be any protein source as mentioned above. The exact choice willdepend upon availability, cost and palatability. Usually about 5% toabout 35% of the further protein source is used.

If desired or required, fats may also be added to the emulsion. Usuallythe amount of fat in the emulsion must be controlled to facilitateprocessing and to obtain an acceptable product. However, the meatmaterial may well contain the desired amount of fats and henceadjustment may not be necessary. Typically at this stage the emulsioncontains a maximum fat level of about 25% by weight. Conveniently, theamount of fat in the emulsion is in the range of about 5% to 15% byweight; more preferably about 7% to about 12% by weight. The mass ratioprotein to fat in the emulsion is preferably about 1:1 to about 7:1. Ifadded, the fats may be any suitable animal fats; for example tallow, ormay be vegetable fats.

Additional ingredients such as sugars, salts, spices, seasonings,flavoring agents, minerals, and the like may also be added to theemulsion. The amount of additional ingredients used is preferably suchthat they make up about 1% to about 5% by weight of the gelatinizedcereal product.

Water may also be added to provide from about 45% to 80% by weightmoisture in the emulsion. If sufficient moisture is present in the meatmaterial, water need not be added.

Once mixed, the emulsion is preferably fed through a vacuum stuffer, orsimilar de-aeration apparatus, to de-aerate the emulsion. This removesair which may otherwise cause disruption of the formulated emulsionproduct and reduce its meat-like appearance.

The emulsion is then fed to an emulsion mill which subjects the emulsionto rapid mechanical heating and shearing. Any suitable emulsion mill maybe used, for example the emulsion mill disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,132,137. Other suitable emulsion mills are commercially availableunder the trade name of Trigonal and may be obtained from SieferMachinenfabrik GmbH & Co KG, Bahnhofstrasse 114, Postfach 101008,Velbert 1, Germany.

The temperature of the emulsion is raised to the desired coagulationtemperature in the emulsion mill in a few seconds. For example, thetemperature may be raised to from about 100° C. to about 120° C.Alternatively, the temperature may be raised to in the range of about45° C. to about 75° C. as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,137. Usuallythe mechanical energy generated in the emulsion mill will be sufficientto heat the emulsion to the desired temperature but this may besupplemented by the injection of superheated steam.

The heated emulsion leaving the emulsion mill is then transferred to aholding tube. In the holding tube, the heated emulsion coagulates whilemoving slowly along the holding tube. The residence time of the heatedemulsion in the holding tube is sufficient for the emulsion to havecoagulated into a firm emulsion product upon reaching the exit of theholding tube.

The firm emulsion product leaving the holding tube is then transferredto a cutter where it is cut into chunks of size suitable for use in apet food. The chunks have the appearance and texture of meat. The chunksmay be subjected to flaking if desired. The chunks may also beformulated into a chunk-in-gravy type of product.

Other procedures for producing chunks are known and may be used; forexample extruding a feed mixture, cooking the feed mixture in a steamoven, and the cutting the cooked extrudate into chunks.

If it is desired to produce a canned pet food in the form of a meatloaf; a meat batter may be prepared by emulsifying a suitable meatmaterial to produce a meat emulsion. The meat material may be anysuitable meat source, for example as described above. Suitable gellingagents, for example gums such as kappacarrageenan, locust bean gum, guargum and xanthan gum may be added to the meat emulsion. Usually no morethan about 2% by weight of gum is needed. The dried chicory is thenadded to the meat emulsion.

Additional ingredients such as sugars, salts, spices, seasonings,flavoring agents, minerals, and the like may also be added to the meatemulsion. The amount of additional ingredients used is preferably suchthat they make up about 0.25% to about 5% by weight of the meat batter.

Water may also be added the meat emulsion to provide from about 70% toabout 85% by weight. If sufficient moisture is present in the meatmaterial, water need not be added.

The meat emulsion is then heated to a temperature above about 65° C. ina mixer-cooker. Steam may be injected into the meat batter if desired.The heated meat emulsion is then again emulsified to provide a loafbatter and the loaf batter maintained at a temperature above about 60°C. until filling into cans.

It will be appreciated that the gelatinized cereal product may beproduced by any suitable process and not only those described above.Other types of oligosaccharides may also be included in the gelatinizedcereal product; for example fructo oligosaccharide and soyoligosaccharide. The soy oligosaccharides may be added in the form ofsoy meal or other suitable soy source.

The cereal products may be in any suitable form; for example dried,semi-wet and wet. However, the matrix making up the cereal product mustbe gelatinized in order to remove or destroy the sesquiterpene compoundspresent in the inulin-containing plant material.

Specific examples are now described for further illustration.

EXAMPLE 1

A feed mixture is made up of about 58% by weight corn, about 5.5% byweight of corn gluten, about 22% by weight of chicken and fish meal,dried chicory and salts, vitamins and minerals making up the remainder.Two levels of chicory are used; about 2.5% and about 5%. Also, twocommercial types of chicory are used; Leroux standard blend and LerouxRubis variety. Both types are commercially available on the Frenchmarket from the Leroux company.

The feed mixture is fed into a preconditioner and moistened. Themoistened feed leaving the preconditioner is then fed into anextruder-cooker and gelatinized. The gelatinized matrix leaving theextruder is force through a die and extruded. The extrudate leaving thedie head is cut into pieces suitable for feeding to cats, dried, andcooled to pellets.

The pellets are fed to a panel of 80 cats. For comparison, the cats maychoose between the pellets with chicory an control pellets which areidentical except that they do not contain chicory. The amount that eachcat eats of each type of pellet is monitored. The results are asfollows:

Example Chicory Chicory level Percentage consuming pellets No Type %containing chicory 1A Standard 2.5 42 1B Standard 5.0 52 1C Rubis 2.5 461D Rubis 5.0 52

The results indicate that the pellets with chicory have substantiallythe same palatability as those without. However, even more surprisingly,as the chicory content increases, the palatability appears to increase.

The gut flora of the cats is analyzed and it is determined thatbifidobacteria counts have increased while C. perfringens counts havedecreased. Further, fecal pH and odors are found to have decreased.Energy and mineral digestibility have increased leading to a decrease infecal volume.

The pellets are crushed and extracted with methanol by boiling underreflux for 1 hour. The extract is twice partitioned between water andchloroform and santonin is added. The chloroform phase is separated,dried and evaporated. The residue is dissolved in a mixture of methanoland chloroform and analyzed using HPLC for free sesquiterpene lactones.The water phase is run through a column and glycosylated compoundseluted from the column using methanol. The eluant is evaporated,dissolved in water and treated with cellulase at 40° C. for 2 hours.Santonin is added to the hydrolysate and the mixture extracted withethyl acetate. The mixture is then analyzed using HPLC for boundsesquiterpene lactones.

No sesquiterpene lactones are detected. Similar analysis of the chicorystarting ingredient reveals between 130 to 350 ppm free sesquiterpenelactones and between 380 to 680 ppm bound sesquiterpene lactones.

EXAMPLE 2

A trial is conducted using 30 dogs. The control food is the FriskiesMenu Energy product, which is dried dog food available on the market.Two test foods are prepared; they correspond to the Friskies Menu Energyproduct except that they include 5% by weight of chicory. One test foodcontains the Leroux standard blend chicory and the other contains theLeroux Rubis chicory.

The foods are fed to the panel of 30 dogs. The amount that each dog eatsof each type of food is monitored. The trial is then repeated. Theresults are as follows:

Example Chicory Chicory level Percentage consuming pellets No Type %containing chicory 2A Standard 5.0 62 2B 69 2C Rubis 5.0 80 2D 89

The results indicate that the foods with chicory have improvedpalatability as compared to the control. In the case of the standardchicory, the improvement is pronounced.

The gut flora of the dogs is analyzed and it is determined thatbifidobacteria counts have increased while C. perfringens counts havedecreased. Further, fecal pH and odors are found to have decreased.Energy and mineral digestibility have increased leading to a decrease infecal volume.

EXAMPLE 3

The amount of kestose, nystose and fructosyl-nystose in the pellets ofexample 1 is measured.

Oligo- saccharide Example 1A Example 1B Example 1C Example 1D kestose0.04 0.08 0.04 0.07 nystose 0.04 0.08 0.05 0.08 fructosyl- 0.04 0.090.05 0.09 nystose Total 0.12 0.25 0.14 0.24

The amount of total inulin, kestose, nystose and fructosyl-nystose inthe two different types of chicory used in example 1 is measured. On thebasis of this determination and the amount of chicory added, atheoretical amount of kestose, nystose and fructosyl-nystose isdetermined for each pellet. The theoretical, combined amounts ofkestose, nystose and fructosyl-nystose in the pellets are then comparedto the measured, combined amounts. The theoretical amounts and themeasured amounts are comparable indicating that little or no degradationof the kestose, nystose and fructosyl-nystose has taken place duringextrusion cooking.

EXAMPLE 4

A feed mixture is made up of rice flour, wheat flour, sugar, malt,vegetable fats, salt and about 5% by weight of chicory. The feed mixtureis fed into a preconditioner and moistened. The moistened feed leavingthe preconditioner is then fed into an extruder and gelatinized. Thetemperature at the exit of the extruder is about 150° C. The pressure inthe extruder reaches about 130 bar. The gelatinized matrix leaving theextruder is forced through a die and extruded. The extrudate expandsupon leaving the die head and is cut into pieces of about 2 to 3 mm. Thepieces are then dried to a moisture content of about 1% by weight. Thepieces are in the form of a puffed breakfast cereal.

The pieces are tasted by a panel of consumers and are found to have agood taste; comparable to a puffed breakfast cereal produced withoutchicory.

EXAMPLE 5

A trial is conducted using 16 dogs. The control food is the FriskiesMenu Vitality product, which is dried dog food available on the market.A test food is prepared which correspond to the Friskies Menu Vitalityproduct except that it include 3% by weight of Leroux standard blendchicory.

Eight dogs are fed the control food and eight dogs are fed the testfood. Feces samples are collected from each dog, heated for 2 hours at30° C., and the compounds released trapped on a Tenax tube. The trappedcompounds are desorbed on a gas chromatograph. The levels ofdimethylsulfide, dimethyldisulfide, and dimethyltrisulfide aredetermined as follows:

Dimethylsulfide Dimethyldisulfide Dimethyltrisulfide Food Area Area AreaControl 5731312 1084439 379164 Test 1719824 48824 43739

The results indicate that the feces of the dogs fed the test diet havemuch reduced amounts of those sulfur containing compounds which arebelieve to cause unpleasant odors.

The levels of short chain fatty acids in the feces are also determinedby gas chromatograph as follows:

Acetate Propionate Butyrate Total Food Area Area Area Area Control 12066 20 207 Test 159 91 18 267

The results indicate that the dogs fed the test diet have higher levelsof short chain fatty acids in the gut. Short chain fatty acids areimportant nutrients for gut cells, and liver and muscles. An increase inthe content of short chain fatty acids in the gut may result in animprovement in the health of the animal or human.

What is claimed is:
 1. A dried cereal product comprising a gelatinizedstarch matrix which contains a plant material which is a source ofinulin in an amount sufficient to provide at least about 0.25% by weightinulin, on a dry matter basis.
 2. A dried cereal product according toclaim 1 in which the gelatinized starch matrix includes protein.
 3. Adried cereal product according to claim 1 which is in the form ofexpanded breakfast cereal pieces or breakfast cereal flakes.
 4. A driedcereal product according to claim 1 in which the plant material isselected from the group consisting of chicory and Jerusalem artichoke.5. A dried cereal product according to claim 1 which comprises at least0.5% by weight of inulin, on a dry basis.
 6. A dried cereal productaccording to claim 1 which comprises at least about 0.1% by weight ofkestose, nystose and fructosyl-nystose.
 7. A dried pet food whichcomprises a gelatinized starch matrix which contains at least about0.25% by weight inulin, on a dry matter basis.
 8. A dried pet foodaccording to claim 7 in which the gelatinized starch matrix includesprotein.
 9. A dried pet food according to claim 7 which is a driedpellet.
 10. A dried pet food according to claim 7 which comprises atleast 0.5% by weight of inulin, on a dry basis.
 11. A dried pet foodaccording to claim 7 which comprises at least about 0.1% by weight ofkestose, nystose and fructosyl-nystose.
 12. A process of preparing adried cereal product which contains at least about 0.25% by weight ofinulin on a dry basis, the process comprising gelatinizing a starchsource, a protein source, and a plant material to form a gelatinizedstarch and protein matrix which contains the inulin.
 13. A processaccording to claim 12 in which the starch source, the protein source,and the plant material are extrusion cooked and then extruded.
 14. Amethod for improving food digestibility in a pet, the method comprisingfeeding the pet a dried pet food in the form of a gelatinized starchmatrix which contains a at least about 0.25% by weight inulin, on a drymatter basis.
 15. A method for increasing the population density oflactic acid bacteria in the gastro-intestinal tract of a pet, the methodcomprising feeding the pet a dried pet food in the form of a gelatinizedstarch matrix which contains at least about 0.25% by weight inulin, on adry matter basis.
 16. A method of reducing pet fecal odors, the methodcomprising feeding the pet a dried pet food in the form of a gelatinizedstarch matrix which contains at least about 0.25% by weight inulin, on adry matter basis.